Locks Christmas
by Albertasteinthe21st.genius
Summary: The twelve days of Christmas song, Luffy's way. A Christmas special for my story 'Locks'
1. Chapter 1

_**I present to you a Christmas Special! Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to everyone! For anyone who hasn't read my story**_ **Locks** _ **, I would suggest reading a few chapters of that if you get confused over some of the things that happen here.**_

 _ **The next chapter of this will be posted on the 21**_ _ **st**_ _ **(in NZ. That's probably the 20**_ _ **th**_ _ **for Americans.)**_

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . ._ "

Ace's eyes shot open at the sound of his brother's _atrocious_ singing, sitting bolt upright on the floor of the treehouse.

" _A partridge in a pear tree . . ._ Shishishi!"

Ace glared at the rubber menace, eyebrow twitching. It wasn't even light outside, and Ace firmly believed that no one, not even Luffy, had any right being so chirpy at this time of the morning at such high volume. Beside Ace, Locks made a grumbling noise as she sat up rubbing her eyes. She was in her half form, wings flopping around and tail swishing softly in her tired irritation.

" _ **Luffy . . .**_ " the two said warningly, glaring at the youngest among them. He gave them a grin in return, blindingly bright in the pre-dawn darkness.

"Morning!" Luffy chirped.

Ace wanted to strangle him. Locks beat him to it.

 **oOo**

"But it's _Christmas_!" Luffy whined when Locks was settled once more.

"No it's not." Ace replied irritably. He had half a mind to follow Locks' example and go back to sleep, come hell or a hyper Luffy.

Luffy pouted.

"It's _going_ to be Christmas." He muttered.

"No care. Want sleep." Locks mumbled, her wings closed around herself. The way she looked kind of reminded Ace of a bat, though she wasn't upside down.

Ace agreed with Locks. Sleep sounded like a great idea.

"But . . . but _Christmas._ " Luffy said.

"Not even know what that is. No care. Want sleep." Locks mumbled again, tail tucking itself closer to her body. Ace lay back down with a sigh, ignoring Luffy.

 **oOo**

An hour later . . .

Ace yawned widely, slowly sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Then he paused, looking around the treehouse.

Luffy was gone, which he expected. However . . . there was no sign of Locks.

With another yawn, Ace got to his feet and left the treehouse. He looked around the clearing.

He was alone.

 **oOo**

Something Luffy had learned was that Locks liked her naps. Ace had narcolepsy and didn't have a choice, but Locks on the other hand would frequently stop whatever she was doing and go to sleep voluntarily. When Luffy had asked her why, she gave him an explanation that he was too lazy to worry about, so he called it "a mystery-dragon disease"

While there was nothing actually wrong with Locks and sleeping like a cat was apparenty normal for dragons her age (according to the bit Luffy paid attention to), Luffy still labelled it a disease. A 'disease' that he was happy to take advantage of.

He'd woken Locks up (again) when the sun came up and dragged her off to get breakfast and extra meat (that he wasn't going to eat _just_ yet). Then he'd decided to go "exploring" until she went to sleep again.

Luffy laughed quietly to himself. Ace was going to be so surprised!

 **oOo**

2 hours later . . .

Ace stared.

While wandering around looking for Locks and Luffy, Ace had been accosted by a suspiciously excited little brother and dragged through the jungle to look at . . . whatever this was.

"Luffy . . ." he said tentatively. The rubber boy giggled in acknowledgement.

"What am I looking at?" Ace finished, morbidly curious as to why Locks was hanging upside down and asleep in a tree filled with meat hanging on strings.

Giggling again, Luffy said matter-of-factly "It's a partridge in a pear tree."

Ace slapped himself in the forehead.


	2. Chapter 2

" _On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . ._ "

Ace's eyes shot open as he sat bolt upright, staring wildly as the most _horrible_ sound startled him awake before dawn.

" _Two turtle doves_

 _And a partridge in a pear tree._ "

It was Luffy, singing a Christmas song. Why he chose to sing that song of all songs was a mystery only Luffy knew.

"Shishishi!" Luffy giggled. Ace threw the nearest object, a book, at Luffy's head. It bounced off and hit Locks. The dragon raised her head, glaring blearily at the brothers while growling deep in her throat. The two boys froze, as if that would take her attention off them.

" **Sorry.** " the boys squeaked. With a suspicious glance at the both of them, she lowered her head and appeared to go back to sleep.

Phew. That was close. Ace glared at Luffy, but the rubber boy just smothered a giggle.

Watching the sleeping dragon, Ace rubbed his head subconsciously where her tail had hit him yesterday when she beat up the both of them. Note to self: dragons do not like waking up upside down in trees.

Ignoring his brother, Ace went back to sleep, leaving Luffy to his scheming.

 **oOo**

Luffy was wandering around the forest as the sun came up, looking for today's Christmassy theme. He wasn't having much luck.

Doves were supposed to be white. But all the birds in this forest were rainbow-coloured. Normally, Luffy would have no qualms about dumping a bucket of white paint over the first bird he found, but at Christmastime, you had to do things right. So, white birds and only white birds would do. Luffy couldn't tell a dove from a duck, however, so there was a fifty-fifty chance of him bringing a albino duck to the treehouse. Not that this bothered Luffy in the slightest.

 **oOo**

Ace cracked an eye open as sunlight fell on his face. He sat up with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head. With a faint glowing light, Locks changed into her half-form behind him, indicating that Luffy hadn't followed up on his earlier threat of repeating his partridge incident.

Ace left the treehouse first, climbing down while Locks threw herself into the air and used her wings to slow her descent. They landed at the same time, looking around the clearing. There was no sign of Luffy, or of Luffy having had breakfast. That was unusual, but Ace was going to have his own breakfast before he started worrying about his little brother. He was still mad at him over yesterday.

 **oOo**

Luffy froze when he saw a stream up ahead. Streams equalled crocodiles, and without either his brother or a dragon Luffy wasn't going to chance his mission being ruined. He slowly backed away, intent on finding his birds elsewhere.

 **oOo**

Ace lay down on the ground, a hand shading his eyes. Locks wasn't in the mood for sparring and Luffy wasn't here right now, so Ace was just going to relax for a little while . . .

 _ **Squuaaaark!**_

Ace opened his eyes and stared at the sky, seeing two birds circling the sky above the clearing. They were _huge_!

He sat up, hand blocking the sun as he continued staring. Not only were they huge, both birds were as black as black could be, and they seemed to be joined at the neck by some kind of rope . . .

Ace paled. That wasn't a rope!

"Locks! Locks, Locks, wake up!"

She rose to her feet at his urging, frowning as he frantically pointed up at the sky. She raised her head, eyes locking on his idiot brother holding onto two enormous vultures for dear life. Looking very put out, Locks changed into dragon form and launched herself into the sky, forcing Ace to jump backwards out of the way.

Landing on his butt, Ace wondered what the hell his brother had been thinking . . .

 **oOo**

"Luffy?" Ace said, deceptively calm when his brother was safely delivered to him (Locks had scared the birds away)

"Yeah?" Luffy said with a grin.

"What was that?" Ace asked, poker-faced.

"Oh, I was looking for doves, but there weren't any white birds, so I went and got black birds instead because black is the opposite of white!" Luffy said excitedly.

 _ **Bonk!**_

 _ **Bonk!**_

Luffy hit the ground, two large bumps on his head courtesy of his older brother and a pissed-off dragon.


	3. Chapter 3

" _On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me . . ._ "

Again!

" _Three French hens_

 _Two turtledoves_

 _And a partridge in a pear tree._ "

Ace glared at Luffy. Luffy giggled back.

"Shishishi."

And then his evil little brother raced out of the treehouse, no doubt to find the nearest equivalent to '3 French hens' that could be found, if the past two days were anything to go by. Ace would deal with the disaster later. Once again, he had been woken before dawn and he was determined, yet again, to get more sleep.

 **oOo**

Luffy raced towards Fuchsia in the pre-dawn darkness, giggling madly all the way. If anyone had seen him, they would surely have questioned his sanity.

 **oOo**

"What is Christmas?" Locks asked with a yawn.

Ace paused in his rapid consumption of rabbits. He swallowed, more to give himself a tiny bit more time than anything else.

"Why do you ask?" he asked tentatively. While he didn't exactly have a . . . problem with Christmas, he didn't really see the point. The bandits just got stupidly drunk when the holiday came, so he'd never really celebrated. Therefore, he didn't really want to explain something he didn't understand himself.

Locks shrugged.

"Prince is excited about it. Want to know what possess him to wake us up when sun is still asleep."

Ace seized on the possibility of changing the subject.

"Prince? I thought you called him Little Hunter?"

Locks shrugged again.

"Both of you rule the forest. You are Hunter. He is younger than you, so he is Little Hunter, but he is also Prince. You Alpha, King, so don't see your problem."

Ace put his hands up defensively.

"I don't have a problem. I was just curious that's all." He said. He then made to take another bite of meat when-

"So? What is Christmas? Why Prince so excited?"

With a sigh, Ace replied irritably "Let me finish my breakfast!"

 **oOo**

"Makino, Makino!" Luffy shouted excitedly as he raced into the bar. No one was around at this time of the morning, which was perfect for what Luffy had planned.

"What is it, Luffy?" the green-haired bartender said with a yawn.

"It's Day Three!" Luffy shouted loudly. Makino tilted her head to one side, rubbing an eye sleepily.

"Oh? What does that mean?"

Luffy told her, and she began to grin mischievously, all signs of tiredness vanishing.

"Of course," she said, "I'll do it. You go fetch your brother and Locks."

"Shishishi! See ya, Makino!"

Once again racing at top speed, Luffy sped towards the forest.

 **oOo**

Locks stared at Ace expectantly. In turn, he stared up at the sky as if it held all the answers.

Where to begin? According to the few people Ace had interacted with who weren't bandits (or his crazy grandfather), there was something called the 'spirit of Christmas'. Ace didn't know what that was, so he decided to leave that part out. Unfortunately, this left him with a very unsatisfying answer.

"Christmas is an excuse for people to get drunk and throw ice at each other." At least, that's what the bandits did every year. Oh, and "They also give each other crappy boxes with more crap inside, like holey socks." Unfortunately, the crap was sometimes very literal (because, as he'd mentioned before, they were all soused). Christmas at the hideout was very smelly, that was for sure.

Locks was giving him a very strange look. He didn't blame her. He had to have just given the worst explanation of Christmas ever.

Then with a sigh, the dragon asked him a much easier question: "What ice?"

 **oOo**

Luffy discovered the two sitting on the ground. Ace was wiggling his fingers in the air and talking about cold fronts and axis and other things Luffy couldn't be bothered understanding. Although, he was a little curious as to how his brother learned all that- wait a minute. Makino probably taught him. Makino was smart!

Before either of them had a chance to notice him, he was stretching his arms as he moved back further and further . . .

"Gum-Gum . . ."

He didn't notice how Ace suddenly went pale.

"ROCKET!"

 **oOo**

When they had recovered from the rough landing and scolded *cough*beat up*cough* Luffy (much to Makino's amusement), the two discovered that Luffy had organised three chicken lunches, courtesy of our favourite green-haired bartender.

Makino was only too happy to have helped. It was fun to surprise her favourite children every once in a while. The looks on their faces were thanks enough (and absolutely _priceless_ ).

However, that still didn't mean that Luffy was forgiven by his older brother. While Locks fell asleep on the floor, Ace did his level best to teach Luffy why it was _**not**_ a good idea to rocket people miles through the air.

As we all know, he failed in his objective.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Here's chapter 4. I'm a bit stuck on 5, though I know what I want to do with it, so if it's not out by tomorrow, I'll try to post it the day after.**_

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . ._."

Oh, for the love of-

" _4 Colly Birds  
3 French Hens  
2 Turtle Doves  
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree_"

Ace lay back down and closed his eyes, not bothering to wake up completely. It wasn't worth it.

"Shishishi!"

And with that, Luffy left the treehouse.

 **oOo**

Ace and Locks were looking for wolves (for skins) when it occurred to Ace that he didn't have an idea of what colly birds were. Feeling a little frustrated, he stopped dead, causing Locks to walk into his back since she was too busy staring up at the trees to pay attention.

She tugged on Ace's shirt. When she had his attention, she pointed up. Following her finger, Ace had to stare as well.

The forest was eerily silent as the birds looked down on them with beady eyes. They were completely surrounded.

 **oOo**

Luffy peered down holes and under rocks. But he couldn't find any colly birds. He didn't know what a colly bird was either, yet he was determined to find four of them.

 **oOo**

Ace decided to ignore the birds. He kept walking, quietly. Locks followed, still looking uneasily up at the birds.

"I don't like them." She whispered nervously.

"They're just birds." He replied.

 **oOo**

Luffy returned to the treehouse. He peered through the doorway to see if the mystery birds had magically decided to roost there. Unfortunately, there were no birds in the treehouse.

 **oOo**

"Colly."

Ace stopped dead, though Locks didn't walk into him this time.

"Did you say something?" he asked.

"It was one of the birds." Locks informed him.

"Birds can't talk." Ace said.

"What about parrots?" she questioned.

" _These_ birds can't talk." He assured her.

And they kept walking, the creepy beady-eyed birds following them. Apart from their footsteps, everything was quiet.

 **oOo**

Luffy found himself on a clifftop. No _mystery_ birds here. Although, there was a giant bird chased him, and he screamed in excitement as he raced away.

 **oOo**

A scream echoed through the woods, sending shivers up Ace's spine. He pretended not to hear it, though he heard Locks mutter something in her language, a series of strange rustles and hisses he didn't understand even if Luffy could. Ace decided then and there that he would get Locks to teach him her language, if only so he could insult people and birds without them understanding him. The likelihood of him meeting anyone who could speak the language was lower than the chance of him meeting another dragon, if some of the things Locks said were anything to go by. She was happy to share stuff about dragons, though it was mostly folklore and social customs. He especially liked the story of the Queen of Thunder, because-

"Colly."

Ace was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound.

"Stop that." he said to Locks irritably. She scowled at him.

"Wasn't me. It was the bird."

Before he could reply, the sound came again.

"Colly."

Ace froze. Since he was looking right at her, he knew that Locks hadn't said that. he slowly looked up, right into the beady eyes of one of the birds.

"Colly." The bird said.

 **oOo**

Luffy sat on a rock, pouting as he pondered where he could find four mystery colly birds. He'd looked everywhere, except for the-

Trees. Duh! Birds lived in trees!

Luffy scaled the nearest one.

"Here, colly! Here colly bird!" he called, going from tree to tree.

 **oOo**

"Colly."

"Colly!"

"Colly."

All around them, the birds sang out the same word over and over again.

"Colly!"

"Colly!"

"COLLY!"

They were getting louder and louder. Beside him, Locks grimaced and covered her ears.

"Can I electrocute them?" she asked.

"Colly!"

"COLLY!"

They were driving Ace crazy.

"Go ahead." He muttered through gritted teeth. Just before Locks could do anything, however . . .

"Colly birds! I found them!" Luffy yelled happily as he fell out of a nearby tree. Ace face-palmed.

Then the fireworks began, the three running for their lives as the enraged birds chased them. Apparently, colly birds don't like it when you electrocute their friends.


	5. Chapter 5

**I thought that I wouldn't finish this chapter, but now it's the longest chapter I've ever written. 6 will be out in the next couple of days.**

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . ."_

Ace didn't even wake up, not that this bothered Luffy.

" _5 Golden Rings  
4 Calling Birds  
3 French Hens  
2 Turtle Doves  
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree_"

Leaving brothers and dragons to their slumber, Luffy left the treehouse with a giggle.

"Shishishi."

Christmastime was awesome!

 **oOo**

When Ace finally deigned to wake up, the sun was high overhead. He'd overslept, which in hindsight wasn't at all surprising considering Luffy's early morning raucous for the past few days.

Locks wasn't in the treehouse. Nor was she in the clearing. Ace wasn't too worried, since she was probably just off flying or exploring or something like that. She could handle herself.

 **oOo**

"Get back, demon!" Dadan bellowed brandishing a broom, but the girl stood firm.

"No." the little dragon said, "I want to know what Christmas is."

"You shall not pass!" Dogra cried, wearing a colander helmet and waving a pan around as if it was a weapon.

Other bandits circled Locks warily, wielding garlic bulbs and silver ornaments. One of her eyebrows began to twitch as the sounds of an exorcism chant wafted towards her.

 **oOo**

Luffy wandered through town, a stolen cloak (he'd forgotten to bring one from the treehouse) shielding his sparkling eyes and manic grin.

Soon, he came upon the section of town that held the jewelry stores all lined up in a glittering row, gold gleaming in the windows, silver sparkling in the sunlight as gems seemed to radiate their own special glow. . .

But back to the gold.

 **oOo**

Ace decided that it would be a good time to train while no one else was around to interrupt. He grabbed up his pipe where it sat neglected in a corner.

 **oOo**

Locks sat on top of a pile of twitching bandits. They'd decided to rush her and spray her with something called holy water rather than answer her question. In their haste, they'd tipped a whole bucket of the stuff on her head. Now she was all wet, and since it was colder than usual in the forest, she was not a very happy dragon. So she'd electrocuted them.

They'd fallen into a heap of their own accord, and she was using them as a somewhat knobby seat while she pondered what was wrong with her question.

Dadan and Dogra were collapsed at the entrance to the hideout. They were both clutching the broom, holding it out in front of them as meagre protection should Ace's crazy girlfriend decide they would make excellent victims. However, to their relief she merely sighed and jumped off the pile, walking back the cursed way she'd come.

 **oOo**

"Get back here, thief!"

The store owner cried from his doorway, shaking a fist at Luffy's rapidly retreating back.

"Shishishi." The boy giggled, clutching a small black box to his chest. While the whole 'partridge in a pear tree' thing had got him into trouble, he was sure today's gift would have a better reception. After all, he'd chosen the biggest and sparkliest rings he could find, so even if Ace got mad Locks would still be happy. Girls liked sparkly things . . . right?

There was a clattering of boots behind him as guards were mobilised. As the shouting grew louder and louder, Luffy laughed.

"Get back here, brat!"

"Return those rings at once!"

"Shishishi!"

 **oOo**

Ace slowly stretched his aching limbs. How long had he been at this?

Just then, his stomach rumbled loudly. Luckily, he'd thought to get some food earlier, because he was too tired to go looking for some now.

Ace climbed up into the treehouse, grabbing up a small bag and starting his meagre lunch.

 **oOo**

Luffy tossed the cloak aside, striding into the clearing with an almighty grin locked in place. He was still holding his precious little black box. He stretched one hand up to the treehouse.

"Gum-Gum . . ."

Ace paused, hearing something outside.

"Rocket!"

Ace had no time to react as his little brother shot into the treehouse and slammed into him.

"Oops. Sorry." Luffy said, not looking sorry at all.

Then he opened his box, picked out two objects and shoved them in his brother's face.

"One for you, one for Lock!" the rubber boy chirped cheerfully.

Ace took the gold rings hesitantly. One was gold with a thin silvery band wrapping around it like a spiral, set with a large red gem (a ruby?) and two smaller blue gems (sapphires?).

The second ring was two gold bands twisted together, set with an emerald and four small diamonds.

"Luffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you get these?"

"Stole 'em. Oh, the red one's for you and the green one is for Locks. Shishishi!"

Ace stared, before asking "Why'd you give me Locks' one?"

"Don't guys usually give girls rings? And you're older, so you should do it." Luffy replied, fiddling with a black box whose contents sparkled.

Ace turned white at the implication, whereas Luffy had no idea what he'd just said. Ace dropped both rings as if they were hot coals, shrieking "I'm not marrying Locks!"

"Who's not marrying who?"

The boys whipped around to stare at Locks, who was looking at them with a curious expression. Ace's face suddenly went very blank.

"Luffy?"

"Huh?"

"I'm gonna kill you."

 **oOo**

Screams echoed through the forest as Ace chased his brother around the clearing. Ignoring their antics, Locks picked up the rings. They were . . . pretty.

Would anyone mind if she kept the green one?


	6. Chapter 6

_**It was Christmas yesterday in NZ, so I got no typing done. Anyway, here's six. Seven'll be up in a day or two.**_

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _6 Geese a Laying  
5 Golden Rings  
4 Calling Birds  
3 French Hens  
2 Turtle Doves  
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree_"

Luffy sang as he left the treehouse. A certain dragon opened one eye in annoyance, but closed it again rather than waking up fully. Ace slept against her side muttering something in his sleep that sounded suspiciously like "Gonna kill the little shit."

After the stunt he'd pulled the day before, Luffy should probably beware of angering older brothers. But he was probably going to do something stupid anyway, so siblings take heed.

 **oOo**

Locks got up at the crack of dawn; an hour or so after Luffy had left. She changed into her half form first, carefully laying Ace on the floor before taking two-leg form and climbing down from the treehouse.

The bandits had been a bust. So, Locks was going to have to find someone else to answer her question.

 **oOo**

Unseen by all but the exceptionally early birds of Fuchsia, a warship sailed into the harbour.

 **oOo**

Luffy was hiding in a tree since, for some reason, there were marines in town. Stealing those gold rings hadn't been that bad . . . had it?

Seeing that the marines weren't leaving anytime soon, Luffy retreated. He would have to call on Makino's help yet again.

 **oOo**

Locks stopped and stared. While on her way to Fuchsia, she had sensed a strange presence and gone to investigate.

Why Garp was wearing a clown suit was beyond her. Humans did such strange things sometimes.

To be specific, Garp was wearing a red and green marine uniform with a red nose and deer antlers with a white afro. The red nose and afro led Locks to believe it was a clown costume. However, Garp would beg to differ.

 _ **Bonk!**_

"It's my Christmas suit you disrespectful brat!"

Locks' blank expression didn't change as she rubbed her forehead, muttering "I not say anything."

"I'm your grandfather! I can read your mind!"

Locks raised an eyebrow.

"You're not my grandfather. And you're bluffing."

Garp gasped.

"How'd you know?!" he exclaimed. Locks pretended he hadn't spoken, deciding that Garp was as good as the next person to answer her question.

"What is Christmas?"

Garp froze like a deer caught in headlights. Then he bellowed "BURGRATE!"

 **oOo**

A shiver ran down Luffy's spine as he saw what lay waiting in the harbour. All was quiet and still aboard his grandfather's warship, but that meant nothing.

The rubber boy took a deep breath. He could do this. He had to.

Very, very quietly, Luffy snuck into down and headed towards Party's Bar with his finger's crossed, fervently hoping that his grandfather was infesting the forest rather than drinking a sake lake.

 **oOo**

Ace was innocently wandering through the forest when he sensed something that made his blood run cold. Before he could take a single step, however, a large hand grabbed the back of his shirt and he was dragged away.

 **oOo**

Luffy crept into the back of Party's Bar. Amongst the laughter of drunken marines, he couldn't hear the distinct sound of his grandfather. Was the coast really clear?

 **oOo**

Ace stared. This was one of the strangest things he had _ever_ seen.

His grandfather was dressed like a clown, and was standing next to a piano that had miraculously sprouted in the middle of the jungle. _Literally_. It had roots and everything.

Sitting down at the piano was Burgrate, who had somehow been coerced into wearing a floppy pointy red hat with a white trim and bobble on the end.

In the middle of the clearing was Locks. In an angel costume. Looking like she wanted to kill someone.

"Hit it!" Garp yelled.

Burgrate started playing the magic sprouting piano. Ace didn't get until Garp waved a fist threateningly at Locks.

She began to sing at the top of her lungs, the cheery tune completely at odds with her murderous expression.

" _Christmas bells, those Christmas bells, ringing through the land!_ "

Garp suddenly pounced on Ace, wielding a green costume he'd summoned from thin air.

 **oOo**

To Luffy's relief, he was able to complete his mission devoid of loving fists. With the stick Makino had given him, he began to herd his charges back towards the forest. So concentrated was he that he forgot all about the warship . . .

 **oOo**

Luffy dropped his stick in shock, the geese all honking and flapping their wings around him as he stared.

Ace was in an elf costume.

"SHISHISHI! SHISH- HA HA HAHA HA!"

His older brother looked hilarious! Rolling around on the ground in a fit, Luffy didn't notice the man looming over him . . .

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **Garp's idea of Christmas (in this fic) is about dressing up and singing Christmas carols! So, his answer to Locks question was to make her learn carols and wear a costume in order to learn the meaning of Christmas. Unfortunately, he expects his grandsons to do the same . . .**_


	7. Chapter 7

" _On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _7 Swans a Swimming  
6 Geese a Laying  
5 Golden Rings  
4 Calling Birds . . ._"

And out Luffy went, still singing terribly. Being used to it by now, neither Locks nor Ace stirred.

 **oOo**

Ace woke by himself. With a yawn, he rolled to his feet and left the treehouse.

At the base of the tree was a crude pen filled with geese, who all had their wings clipped so they couldn't fly away. Ace counted them.

1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . 5 . . Huh?

He counted them again.

1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . 5 . . Uh oh.

A goose had escaped. Ace sighed in irritation, and checked the rough basket Locks had made. There were six eggs inside, so the dragon had already checked the geese herself . . . and was probably tracking the escapee. So Ace didn't have to worry about it.

Instead, he set about finding a way to cook the eggs for his breakfast.

 **oOo**

Locks stumbled through the jungle, cursing colourfully under her breath (Ace had a large vocabulary) as she tracked the little menace. She was tracking the birds scent, and honestly it was a miracle that it hadn't been eaten by now. Locks had encountered quite a few predators in her quest (much to said predators' misfortune) but had yet to see a speck of goosey blood or reddened white feathers.

Occasionally, she had heard a distinct honking sound up ahead, the dastardly bird leading her into ever more unhospitable parts of the forest.

 **oOo**

Swan, swans, swans, where could he find some swimming swans? Oh! Look! Pretty . . .

 **oOo**

"#$%#&*%$#!"

Locks changed into her half-form, simultaneously latching onto a nearby branch with her teeth and digging her claws into a tree trunk to prevent herself from falling into a random hole that had suddenly formed beneath her feet. She heard honking, the unseen bird laughing at her predicament.

Her eyes narrowed, rainbow swirls solidifying into an angry red. That bird was going down.

 **oOo**

"Ace! Hey, Ace!"

Ace looked up for a moment, identified his brother, and went back to watching the pot. He'd built a small fire, stolen a pot from Dadan (who had been dressed as a shaman for some odd reason) and decided to make poached eggs for breakfast. He knew how to do it in theory . . . Locks had shown him how one day when he'd been bored . . . though she'd only used one egg while he'd put all six in at once.

He had no idea how to tell when they were ready. The fact that Luffy was now tugging on his shirt and making shrill noises wasn't helping.

"What?" he said crossly, deigning to look at the rubber whiner.

"I found the swans! Come look, come look!" Luffy excitedly into his brother's ear. Ace winced.

"What swans?"

"The Christmas swans!"

 **oOo**

"Uh, Luffy?" Ace said uncertainly. Luffy had put the fire out, so he didn't really have an excuse not to come . . . he was hungry, dammit! And these weren't even swan . . . who had ever heard of pink swans?!

"Yeah?"

"Those are flamingos . . ."

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **You'll have to wait until chapter 8 to see what happened to Locks. It'll be up in a day or two.**_


	8. Chapter 8

" _On the eighth day of Christmas, my true gave to me_

 _8 Maids a Milking  
7 Swans a Swimming  
6 Geese a Laying  
5 Golden Rings . ._ ."

Luffy jumped out of the treehouse, the five remaining geese shifting slightly as he disturbed them.

"Shishishi . . ." Luffy giggled as he left the clearing.

 **oOo**

"Ha! Victory is _MINE_!" the dragon shouted, grabbing the reprehensible feathered creature by its scrawny neck. Her eyes gleamed in triumph. The goose gulped, honking in distress.

Locks was in the middle of a swamp. While she was certain that she had on no occasion come across anything remotely swamp-like in her explorations of the island, she was nevertheless now in the middle of a swamp. The left leg of her shorts was missing, and her shirt was barely recognisable as such. Her short dark hair was a spiky mess, and she was covered in slime and other icky things.

It was all the fault of the evil bird she now gripped. Her gleaming eyes changed from red to green, a smile of Luffy-proportions stretching her face.

She resembled some kind of mad sprite, prey held tight in her hand as her stomach grumbled.

 **oOo**

Luffy crashed into the hide-out as loud as possible, screaming "Wake up!"

 **oOo**

 _MINE! . . ._

 _Wake up! . . ._

Ace sat up rubbing his eyes, wondering what in the Blues the noise was all about. Looking around, however, he saw that he was alone. Must have been dreaming . . .

 **oOo**

Having found her way back to solid ground, Locks was happily munching on a drumstick as she searched for a stream. She wondered what Luffy was up to . . .

 **oOo**

"Aaargh! He got Dogra!" The bandits screeched as their comrade fell to Luffy's onslaught. Where the hell had the cows come from anyway?! Poor Dogra . . .

"Incoming!" Dadan screamed a warning, but it was too late. Another one of her brave bandits was taken. She put a hand over her heart.

"He will be remembered . . ." she murmured, peering down from her perch on the second floor.

 **oOo**

Ace stared. He rubbed his eyes. He stared again.

What in the Blues?!

"Locks? What happened to your clothes?" he asked. The girl looked very wet, and her clothes were almost unrecognisable as such.

With a perfectly blank expression, she held out a terrified goose by its neck, saying in a monotone "Behold, the evil bird."

Ace blinked.

"Forget about it . . ."

 **oOo**

Locks was up in the treehouse putting on new clothes, the goose safely stowed away. It was probably for the best.

She didn't exactly seem in the moon for Luffy's antics.

Ace watched with an unreadable expression as Luffy led a bunch of cows into the clearing. Upon closer inspection, you could count eight of them.

Luffy was also leading a group of prisoners, tied in a line like a chain gang. The prisoners were all men, and Ace recognised one of them as Dogra.

The captured bandits were all wearing dresses, maid uniforms to be exact.

Luffy was grinning, looking very proud of himself.

Ace turned and walked out of the clearing without a word.

He didn't see _anything_. Nope, nothing at all. He didn't hear the pleas for mercy, the bandits begging for him to control his brother. He saw nothing, he heard nothing, and therefore Luffy had done nothing.

 **oOo**

Peering out of the treehouse to see Luffy's latest trick, Locks muttered to herself

"Do I even want to know?"

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **How many thought she ate the goose? 9'll be up in a day or two.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**I climbed a mountain yesterday. That was fun.**_

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _9 Ladies Dancing  
8 Maids a Milking  
7 Swans a Swimming  
6 Geese a Laying . . _."

Ace twitched in his sleep, frowning as Luffy left. Locks growled, her eyes tight shut.

"Shishishi . . ."

 **oOo**

"Hunter . . . oh, Hunter . . ." Locks murmured, poking Ace in the arm. He grunted, but otherwise didn't react.

"Hunter . . . Ace. Wake up, Ace." She said a little louder, poking him harder. Still nothing. So with a sigh, she yelled "Wake up! Luffy's eating all the MEAT!"

"Huh? Wha's goin' on?!" Ace said, disorientated. Locks ignored the question, as she had more important matters to attend to.

"What are we supposed to do with the cows?" she asked. Ace stared at her.

"You mean, I wasn't dreaming?"

 **oOo**

After counting the geese (all six seemed to be afraid of Locks . . . wonder why?), Ace and Locks applied themselves to the problem of cows. Maisy, Daisy and Daffodil (Luffy named them) were no trouble at all, calmly chewing their cud. They had already been tied to trees by a couple of the bandits before they all fled.

Dandelion, Caramel and Cream were easily rounded up and tied to trees as well.

Clover and Clarabelle were a different matter entirely. They stood with heads low, pawing the ground and mooing lowly. Ace was a little nervous, truth be told. The cows were a lot bigger than he was, and he was hungry too.

Locks, on the other hand . . . was asleep. Ace scowled at the young dragon taking random naps was his thing (not that he could help it) not hers. Dustan mooed louder. Ace slowly turned his head just in time to see the bovine-

"Aaargh!" he screamed as Dustan chased him. Locks opened one eye, but closed it again when she saw that she'd caught Clarabelle's attention. Perhaps playing dead was best for now . . .

 **oOo**

Must. Resist. The Cuteness.

"Pleeease?" Luffy begged, giving Makino his best puppy eyes.

Makino groaned. She was no match for Luffy.

"Fine," she said with a weary smile, "I'll just have to ask my friends first and-"

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled in triumph.

 **oOo**

Ace wasn't entirely sure when he'd got on the road to Fuchsia, but hell would freeze over before he stopped running.

"Aaargh!" he screamed.

"Mooouuh!" Dustan bellowed, tossing her horns as she galloped after the boy.

 **oOo**

Locks was making poached eggs. Poached goose eggs to be exact.

Sitting beside her like a dog, Clarabelle carefully watched her every move.

"And now, you add some salt." Locks said. The cow nodded seriously, mooing something to her cow friends. They all mooed back. Clarabelle mooed at Locks.

"Soon." The girl chuckled. Inwardly, she was thinking " _this has got to be the strangest thing I've ever done . . ."_

 **oOo**

Makino giggled, putting the last touch of make-up on one of her friend's faces.

"We're almost ready, Luffy!" she called.

"Yosh!" he yelled back, "I'll go get Locks'n'Ace! Gum-Gum . . ."

A door slammed shut as Luffy left.

"ROCKET!"

Makino winced slightly at the volume with which the word was spoken.

 **oOo**

Ace was just innocently running away from Dustan when yet another cow landed right in front of him in a cloud of dust. His eyes widened as he skidded to a stop.

 _ **Bonk!**_

Locks whacked Luffy on the head with a pot of poached eggs, dusting herself off with the other as she asked the bewildered cow "You 'kay, Clarabelle?"

The cow lowed in reply, glaring at Luffy.

"That's good. Have an egg." Locks said, feeding the cow a poached egg as Ace continued to stare.

Then Dustan caught up with them and they all started running, suddenly very eager to see nine ladies spinning.

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **Three more chapters to go!**_


	10. Chapter 10

" _On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _10 Lords a Leaping  
9 Ladies Dancing  
8 Maids a Milking  
7 Swans a Swimming . . _."

 **oOo**

Ace peered out of the treehouse, eyeing Dustan cautiously. Dustan glared back, chewing her cud. Damn crazy cow.

He rolled onto his back, since it didn't seem like he'd be able to get down _safely_ anytime soon. It was a miracle that he'd reached the treehouse in the first place. Damn Luffy and his stupid ideas . . . It was day ten, right? Milking 'maids', spinning ladies . . . Ten leaping lords, wasn't it? And just how Luffy was going to accomplish that, Ace had no idea.

The sound of Locks' voice travelled up to him, as she explained to Dustan how to poach goose eggs, Clarabelle's mooing chiming in every few words. Locks had somehow become best friends with all the cows by using _poached eggs_ as treats to bribe them into behaving. Ace didn't how that worked, but he knew that he was hungry, and he couldn't stay up here all day . . .

 **oOo**

Dadan eyed Luffy warily, armed with her trusty broom. Behind her, all the bandits cowered in fear.

"What do you want, brat?" Dadan asked carefully. Luffy grinned . . .

 **oOo**

"Hello!" Locks jumped six feet in the air at the unexpected voice.

"You scared the kid. Idiot."

She slowly turned around, eyes alighting on a serious looking man with a cigarette stuck in his mouth. Beside him was another man with a huge bottle in his only hand, hair redder than blood. Locks stared.

"Hey, kid." The serious one said.

"Hey." She replied blankly.

"What about me!" the red-head pouted.

"You scared me." She said.

The three of them stood there staring at one another in tense silence, red-head chugging down the bottle like the world was ending.

Eventually, Dustan and Clarabelle decided that they didn't like the strange men.

"MOO!" they bellowed, putting their heads down and preparing to charge.

 **oOo**

"Moo!" Ace woke up with a start, quickly poking his head out of the treehouse to see what was going on. To his relief, the two most belligerent cows were racing out of the clearing, leaving the coast clear for him to come down.

 **oOo**

"What's Christmas?" Locks said nonchalantly from her place on Clarabelle's back, figuring that she might as well ask while she had the chance. The red-head paused for a split second to say "Pardon?"

And then Clarabelle almost got him, so he had to start running again.

"What is Christmas?" Locks asked again.

"Christmas *pant* is fun!" the man replied, "Say, have you ever *pant* heard of a kid *pant* called Luffy?"

"You mean, Prince?" Locks said questioningly.

 **oOo**

While they had been wary of the costumes at first, the bandits were happy to wear them upon realising that the outfits were designed for men (even if it still took a little persuading *cough*beating*cough* to convince them).

And so, once more, Luffy proudly led his prisoners towards the treehouse so that he could show off to Ace about how he was so much more Christmassy.

 **oOo**

After establishing that the red-head was indeed talking about Prince, Locks convinced Clarabelle to stop chasing the poor drunk man. The smoking man, however, receded into the distance with Dustan hot on his heels.

 **oOo**

Ace was happily devouring the eggs Locks had left behind when he heard his brother's voice approaching. He looked up to see . . .

"And, jump!" Luffy said. The bandits leaped through the air, fake finery looking extremely out of place

. . . ten lords a-leaping. Ace smacked himself in the forehead.

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **Poor Benn Beckman, a cameo role that involves being chased by a cow. His captain, on the other hand, shall be seen again! Why is he here in the first place? Christmas miracle, that's why.**_


	11. Chapter 11

" _On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _11 Pipers Piping  
10 Lords a Leaping  
9 Ladies Dancing  
8 Maids a Milking . . ._"

 **oOo**

"Ace?"

"Yes?" Ace said uncertainly. Locks rarely used his actual name.

"Who is Shanks, exactly?" Locks asked.

Ace blinked. "Hasn't Luffy told you all about Shanks?"

"Prince tell me all about Shanks' _hat_. The man himself is a drunken mystery."

" . . . When did you meet Shanks?" Ace asked, wondering how she'd know something like that.

"Yesterday. Chased him with cow, talked about Prince. Mister Red Hair is very hard to shut up. Still don't know who he is, though."

Ace thought back to all the stories Luffy had told of the man.

"Well . . ." he began.

 **oOo**

Luffy stared in delight at the ship docked at Fuchsia village.

He raced towards Party's Bar in search of his idol.

 **oOo**

Locks tilted her head to one side questioningly.

"Emperor? He didn't act like strong man . . . sure he's not just a hobo with a grin?"

"Yes, I'm sure that Shanks is not a hobo. I overheard Gramps talking about him once, and he really is a big-shot in the pirate world."

"Huh." Locks said. Then she shrugged.

"Okay. Then tell me what day it is today."

Ace took a moment to think, before replying "It's day eleven . . . piping pipers."

"Pipers?"

Ace did his best impression of one.

"Oh," Locks said, "those. Noisy."

Ace was going to say that it wasn't so bad . . . then he remembered that with Luffy in charge, noisy was the order of the day.

Ace looked at Locks. Locks looked at Ace. Then they both started searching for earplugs.

 **oOo**

"Why did we agree to this again?" a random crew member asked, changing into his costume.

" 'Cos Shanks wants to help his brat surprise his brother with his 'Christmas spirit'." Another random crew member replied.

The two random crew members, as well as eight others, shook hands.

"It was an honour serving with you." They all said to each other. Then they walked out to meet their captain's favourite rubber disaster.

 **oOo**

"Hey, Ace, Locks!" Luffy screamed up at the treehouse. There was no answer.

He rocketed himself up to investigate, finding the two sitting in silence playing cards.

"Hey, come look!" he said, cheerfully agitated. They didn't seem to notice him. Impatient, he grabbed them both and leapt out of the treehouse, heedless of their sudden screams.

"Gum-Gum . . ."

Seeing as they were both wearing ear-plugs, neither Ace nor Locks were aware of the danger as they scowled at Luffy.

"ROCKET!"

 **oOo**

When they had sort of recovered from their landing, Luffy dragged the two and dragged them both to Fuchsia's main street, just in time for them to see-

I don't think anyone could quite believe their eyes. At the head of a troupe of ten of his crew members, Shanks was striding down the street in full Scottish garb, red and green tartan kilt looking awfully like a skirt. The sound of eleven (very) _badly_ played bagpipes filled the air, piercing through Ace and Locks' skulls despite their precautions.

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **One more chapter to go! When I come back from holiday, I think I'm going to rewrite the last couple of chapters . . . they didn't really turn out right, I think.**_


	12. Chapter 12

**:) _Glad you think so,_ Tsukino.**

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

" _On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

 _12 Drummers Drumming  
11 Pipers Piping  
10 Lords a Leaping  
9 Ladies Dancing . . ._"

 **oOo**

Ace opened his eyes to look blearily at the ceiling. He was exhausted. After deafening everyone with his terrible bagpipe skills, Shanks had started an enormous Christmas party that didn't stop until . . . He'd had a narcoleptic fit about halfway through . . . it was very quiet. Ace decided that he could safely assume that the party had stopped for the time being. Which brought him to his next item of business: how had he got back inside the treehouse?

He slowly moved to peer out of the treehouse.

Huh. Strange. Where did all the animals go? And why was the ground white . . .

He shivered in the breeze, staring at the snow, then looked around carefully for his little brother, having no inclination to get hit by a multitude of ice-balls. Fortunately, there was no sign of Luffy . . . oh, that's right. His little brother was probably off 'organising' his latest Christmas trick.

 **oOo**

"Whee!" Luffy yelled, skidding across a frozen and landing in a snowbank. Locks rolled her eyes and went to pull him out. Each of her footsteps melted through the frosty cover on the ground, her flame powers at work.

Locks was quite cross with the weather. Yesterday had been warm and sunny (and very noisy), but today was unreasonably, unseasonably cold and eerily silent as her breath misted in the air. She was fine with the cold, really, but a little warning would have been nice!

Luffy giggled as he came clear of the snow.

"Shishishi!"

 **oOo**

Ace gingerly got on the ground, wincing at the cold. Now, where could he find some food?

 **oOo**

Locks eyed the bandits warily as they came closer and closer, wearing great big silly grins on their faces. Her nose wrinkled at the scent of alcohol. Considering what Luffy had put them through for the last few days, you'd think they'd be more wary, even if they were drunk. But no. it was apparent that alcohol had erased their inhibitions, if Dadan's behaviour was anything to go by.

"Here . . . have a broom *hic*" the 'fearsome' bandit leader said, handing her trusty weapon to the dragon. Locks stared in disbelief as she beheld the precious cleaning implement, before smiling hesitantly and saying "No, really, I couldn't."

Dadan shrugged, handing her a random box wrapped in rags instead. Locks took a few steps back from the drunken bandits, carefully unwrapping the box.

"Oh, I want one too!" Luffy said. Another bandit, Dogra, waltzed in his direction and handed him an open box full of some mysteriously smelly substance.

Locks smiled at her gift. It was a black tricorne hat, with a white string. She put it on her head, looking up to see Dadan suddenly _very_ close and in her face.

"Do you *hic* like it?" the bandit leader asked, red nose practically glowing. Locks beamed a grin in reply. The woman smirked at her and said "Good."

Luffy walked up with his box of smelly stuff and showed it to Locks.

"Put that crap down." the girl said sternly. Luffy obeyed, surprisingly.

 **oOo**

Ace somehow ended up in Fuchsia. Seeing his dragon and little brother up ahead, he ran to catch up.

"Why are you two here?" he asked curiously. Luffy giggled ominously, while Locks just shrugged.

With an uneasy sigh, Ace kept walking with them.

 **oOo**

Ace could have sworn that that clock tower hadn't been there before . . .

They'd eaten at Party's Bar, and then Luffy had dragged them off to look at a clock tower that no one remembered existing until that moment, and now most of the village was waiting patiently, watching the tower. What they were waiting for was beyond Ace. It was only just then that he noticed Locks' hat.

"Where'd that come from?" he asked.

"Dadan." The dragon replied absently, fiddling with the string.

The clock struck twelve. Ace found his head forcibly jerked up by Luffy to see-

Twelve drumming figurines emerged from within the tower, the sound of their drums filling the air.

 _Huh,_ Ace thought, _that wasn't so-_

A snowball hit him squarely in the face, and he whipped around to glare at Luffy, the younger boy standing next to a pile of ammo. Before Ace could say a word, Luffy threw another icy ball with a grin.

Oh. It was _on._

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _ **And that's a wrap!**_


End file.
